Ball-bearing.



No. 779,071. vPATNNTNN JAN.' s, 1905. o. H. CHAPMAN.

BALL BEARING.

AYPLIOATION FILED DEG. 29, 1902.

A TTOHNE Y.

UNITED STATES' Patented January 3, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

BALL-BEARING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 79,071, dated January' 3, 1905. Application filed December 29, 1902. Serial No. 136,995.

T0 all whom, it may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. CHAPMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Groton, in th'e county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ball-Bearings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to that class of ballbearings in which an adjustable cone is used as the bearing-surface for the balls; and the invention has for its object the provisionof means for facilitating the adjustment of the said cone and for firmly locking it in adjusted position against the possibility of its working loose in operation.

The invention consists of a contractile checknut engaging a screw-thread on the journal, axle, or other part to which the ball-bearing is applied, combined with a cone adjustably attached to the same part to which the checknut is applied, the check-nut engaging the cone with a frictional contact due to its contractility, and thus serving to lock the cone in adjusted position against the possibility of working loose, so that the ball-bearing may be maintained in most efficient operative or working position and condition.

For the sake of a concrete example the invention is herein shown and described in connection with a wagon-hub and what is known as the Chapman double ball-bearing, illustrated in part in Patent No. 567,849, granted September 15, 1896; but it is noted that the invention is not thus limited in scope or applicability.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a wagon-hub having double ball-bearings, the axle-nib being shown in elevation. Fig. 2 is a front elevation, the dust-cap removed. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation, Fig. L a side elevation, and Fig. 5 a longitudinal section, of one form of checknut. Fig. 6 is a rear elevation, Fig. 7 aside elevation, and Fig. 8 a longitudinal section, of a modified form of check-nut. Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 10 afront elevation, of the cone.

The hub 1 may be of usual construction, having an interiorly-screw-threaded metal band 2 to receive the dust-cap 3 and also having the metal band 4 at the rear. The axle 5 has the screw-threaded end 6, a tapering shoulder 7, and collars 8 and 9. The front and rear ball-cups l0 and 11 arc applied in suitable seats in the hub, and the front retainer 12 may have bearing-balls 13 and separatingballs 14 of different diameters, while the rear retainer 15 may loe of similar or diverse construction. The ring 16 is forced into the rear of the hub, holds the rear ball-cup 10 in place, and is grooved at 17 to receive the projecting` lip 18 of the dust-cap 19, which in turn is mounted upon the collar 8 and held in place by the collar 9. The rear retainer and its balls are mounted upon a stationary cone 20 on the shoulder of the axle.

The parts hereinbefore specifically described may be replaced by others in the use of the main novel features of the present invention now to be described.

The cone 21 is screw-threaded interiorly at 22 to engage the screw-thread on the axle-nib, and thence it flares outwardly to form a tapering cavity 23. Any suitable provision, such as Spanner-holes 24, may be made for vplacing and removing this cone. By means of its screwthreaded engagement with the nib the cone may be adjusted relatively to the ball-retainer, and unless provision be made for fixing this adjustment the parts are likely to work loose in operation. For fixing' such adjustment I use a check-nut 25, having a head 26, by which it may loe placed and removed, and a shank 27, the head and shank being screw-threaded interiorly to engage the screw-thread of the nib. The shank is slit lengthwise, as indicated at 28, Figs. 1, 8, 4, and 5, at a number of points in order to make it contractile, and the sha-nk has a tapering exterior of' the contour of the cavity 23 of the cone and of slightly greater diameter when unrestrained than parts of the cavity, so that when said nut is screwed up into said cavity the split shank will be contracted or compressed diametrically about the nib and within the cavity of the cone, and thus frictionally hold the cone firmly locked in whatever adjusted position it may be given.

TOO

Instead of slitting the check-nut at a number of points and in the shank only a single slit may be made, as shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8, wherein the check-nut 29 is provided with a head and a shank and an interior screwtliread, as bfore, and with the single slit 30, which extends not only through the shank, but also through the head.

In case the cone should have a tendency to move while the check-nut is being applied of course some restraining means would heapplied to the said cone until the check-nut has been turned into place.

What I claim is- 1. A ball-bearing, provided with an adjustable cone having its interior tapered, and a check-nut having a contractile tapered p0rtion adapted to engage the tapered interior of the cone to firmly lock the cone in given adjustment, said cone and check nut screwthreaded and adapted to engage a screwthreaded axle.` v

2. In a ball-bearing, an axle, provided with a screw-thread, a cone having a screw-threaded connection with said axle, and also having a tapered cavity, and a check-nut having an internallyscrew-threaded shank also adapted t'o engage said axle and externally tapered and slitted longitudinally to cooperate with the tapered cavity of the cone.

8. In a ball-bearing, an axle, provided with a screw-thread, a cone having a screw-threaded connection with said axle, and also having a tapered cavity, a check-nut having an internally-screw-threaded and externally-tapered shank slitted longitudinally and adapted to cooperate with the tapered cavity of the cone, and a ball-retainer and balls therein separate from the cone and mounted upon it.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of December, A. D.

CHARLES H. CHAPMAN. Witnesses:

W. E. PULING, B. A. GOODMAN. 

